Abstract: Based on the conventional meteorological data of 97 meteorological stations in Hunan province from 1975 to 2015, the precipitation and drought characteristics in Hunan province were analyzed. On this basis, combined with the topography of Hengshao basin, the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics of drought in Hengshao basin from 2005 to 2015 were analyzed, and the relationship between drought and land use in this period was mainly studied. The results showed that the annual precipitation in Hunan province was different. The spatial and temporal distribution was uneven. The precipitation in most areas was mainly concentrated in April to June, accounting for 42% of the total precipitation in the whole year. The annual precipitation varied greatly in regional distribution. The precipitation in the west, south and east mountainous areas was more than that in the middle hills and the northern Dongting lake plain. The drought days in summer and autumn account for 60%~80% of the total number of drought days in Hunan province, especially in Hengshao basin in central Hunan province, where the frequency of drought was the highest, reaching more than 70%, and the spatial and temporal distribution of drought varies greatly among counties and cities in the region. Because of the influence of topographic subsidence airflow, the process rainfall in Hengshao basin was often less than that in other areas, and the probability of drought was higher than that in other areas. For most regions, the percentage of cultivated land, forest garden land and grassland was negatively correlated with composite meteorological drought index （CI）, while the percentage of urban and rural, industrial and mining, residential land is positively correlated with CI.

Key words: drought, Hengshao basin, distribution characteristics, land type